Apex, NC Short-Term Rentals: Night Caps (2026)

Unlike night-cap markets such as San Francisco (90 nights for unhosted), Portland OR (95 nights for accessory rentals), or Honolulu (180 nights for hosted), Apex has no codified per-year, per-quarter, or per-month night cap on the number of nights an STR may host. The Apex Unified Development Ordinance does not contain a night-cap clause, and Apex has no separate STR ordinance through which one could attach. North Carolina G.S. 160D-1207(c) reinforces this restraint by preempting NC local governments from requiring an owner or manager of residential rental property to obtain a permit to lease the property or to register the property, except for properties in the chronic-violator tier (4+ verified Article 11/12 violations in 12 months or 2+ in 30 days, $500/year fee cap, no criminal penalties). The North Carolina Court of Appeals in Schroeder v. City of Wilmington (2022) applied this preemption to strike down not only Wilmington's STR registration program but also the caps on total number of rentals, minimum separation requirements between STR properties, and amortization (phase-out) provisions that were 'so intertwined with the invalid registration requirement' as to be preempted with it. The Schroeder decision is widely understood to limit NC towns' ability to impose density-style or quantity-style STR controls including night caps tied to a registration scheme. The UNC School of Government's analysis notes that zoning-based STR use standards (restricting STRs to specified zoning districts, requiring parking, limiting large gatherings) may survive preemption if structured as generally-applicable land-use rules, but a per-property night cap is generally treated as a quantitative restriction more akin to a cap than to a generally-applicable use standard. Apex has not enacted any such standard. An Apex STR may therefore be booked for up to 365 nights per year provided the operator complies with: (1) the underlying residential zoning use rules of the Apex UDO (the dwelling must remain residential in character); (2) the Apex Housing Code in Code of Ordinances Chapter 5, Article VII (smoke alarms, habitability, sanitation); (3) the NC State Building Code; (4) all state, county, and (none in Apex's case) municipal lodging taxes; (5) any private HOA covenants. The HOA constraint is the principal practical limit on STR operation in many Apex subdivisions: covenants in Beaver Creek Commons, Bella Casa, Haddon Hall, Sweetwater, and other Apex neighborhoods often impose minimum-lease-term provisions of 6 or 12 months that effectively prohibit short-term rental even though the town does not. Operators must verify HOA covenants before assuming an Apex property is eligible for STR operation.